Author name: Enthusiast

Sitting at your workbench does not make you lazy. Many times it makes you smart. Chopping out the waste between dovetails requires endurance and patience – especially when building a large piece of casework with drawers. If you sit while chopping, you conserve energy and your eyes are closer to your chisel, improving accuracy. The same goes for mortising where exactitude is important. During the last few weeks I’ve been […]

The post Be Seated: The Benchcrafted Swing-away Seat appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

Sometimes the best Father’s Day gifts are the ones that you pick up at the very last second…right? We understand that some of our readers haven’t taken advantage of our free shipping deal – which runs through this weekend if you want to hand Dad a receipt of a product that is in the mail – so we have curated a list of 11 products from our store that would […]

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A workbench designed for hand tool woodworkers but made (partially) with a CNC. It features a 3D carved leg vise and a workbench top designed to improve ergonomics. I designed the BARN workbench for the Bainbridge Island Artisan Resource Network. It’s a Seattle area community group that has built a wonderful community facility for artisans to share resources, education, and workspace. I wanted to help my new neighbors, so I […]

The post Introduction to the BARN Workbench appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

Any experienced woodworker will tell you that the first secret to good work is keeping your tools sharp. “The Perfect Edge” by Ron Hock is one of the best books out there on sharpening woodworking tools. If you don’t have it, you need it. From choosing a sharpening set-up to in depth coverage of different sharpening methods, this book takes the mystery out of this crucial set of skills. I’m […]

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The 2017 Excellence Awards entry period will close on Friday (6/16) at midnight! The grand-prize winner gets a check for US$1,000, the winner in each of the five categories, and the overall Readers’ Choice winner, get a gift certificate to ShopWoodworking.com – plus, the grand-prize piece, and the Editors’ Choice and Readers’ Choice winners in each category will be featured in the November issue. There is absolutely no cost to […]

The post Last Chance to Enter the 2017 Excellence Awards! appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

When I was first learning woodworking, HVLP didn’t exist. That’s something I lament on occasion when I recall taking a deep breath (even with a face mask and decent air collection) before starting to spray a lacquer finish. The overspray cloud was amazing and there really wasn’t a way to avoid it – affecting my breathing and my ability to see what I was finishing! HVLP (high volume low pressure) […]

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